Cyber Liability Insurance

What is Cyber Liability insurance?

Cyber liability insurance covers the risks and losses relating to damage to, or loss of information from, IT systems and networks. All businesses, from large corporations to SMEs, are responsible for protecting the personal data that is entrusted to them.

Do I need it

Most definitely, yes. With new official data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales 2015

showing the growing threat of cyber crime and online fraud rising at a dramatic rate, any business that uses technology and is involved in the storage or use of data is at risk.

So, if you:

• Hold sensitive customer details such as names and addresses or banking information.
• Rely heavily on IT systems and websites to conduct your business.
• Process payment card information.

then a cyber liability insurance policy, either as a one-off policy or a supplement to your existing insurance arrangements is a must. Having cyber liability insurance can make the recovery process as straightforward and rapid as possible.

Talk to Bromwall:

A range of policies are available, for SMEs with cover limits between £100,000 and several million and for larger organisations facing more complex cyber risks.

Read the must-know detail on Cyber Liability insurance:

Company size doesn’t matter to a cyber criminal – half of all companies that suffer data breaches have fewer than 1000 employees. And cyber criminals don’t care who they steal from, they operate amongst organised cyber crime rings worldwide and round the clock.

What are the risks of cyber crime and data breaches to my company?

Huge. And businesses often underestimate their data security breach risks. Even if your business uses state-of-the-art security controls, your customers, shareholders and corporate assets are all at risk from cyber crime if your company comes to a grinding halt. Your company is at risk of:

• Identity theft resulting from lost or stolen National Insurance numbers or credit card, driver’s license or financial information
• e-vandalism – once inside your data systems a hacker can cause immense disruption and harm including security failures, internet viruses and business interruption
• legal costs incurred from customer claims against invasion of privacy, defamation, or product disparagement
• crisis management and disaster recovery costs
• legal costs from claims alleging intellectual property, trademark or copyright infringement
• costs resulting from having to notify all of your customers if a data breach is even suspected
• loss of confidence in your organisation by your customers and potential customers when a security breach occurs

What does cyber liability insurance cover?

Bromwall advises on first-party cyber liability insurance cover that covers your business’s own assets, and third-party cyber liability insurance cover that covers the assets of others, typically your customers.

Cyber liability – first party insurance may include:

• Loss or damage to digital assets such as data or software programmes.
• Loss as a result of business interruption from network downtime.
• An e-threat where third parties threaten to damage or release data if money is not paid to them.
• Costs relating to notification of customers of a security or privacy breach.
• Reputational damage arising from a breach of data that results in loss of intellectual property or loss of customers.
• E-theft of money or digital assets through theft of equipment or electronic theft.
• E-vandalism expenses, even when the vandalism is caused by an employee.

Cyber liability – third party insurance cover may include:

• Loss of third party data, including payment of compensation to customers for denial of access, and failure of software or systems.
• Impaired-access injury – this could include legal costs arising from your customer’s own data systems being affected and the resulting impact on your customer’s customers.
• Content liability to cover costs arising from intellectual property infringement, trademark infringement and copyright infringement.
• Damage, defense and investigation costs incurred by security and privacy breaches.

How can I manage my own cyber-risk?

The UK Government views cyber attacks as a highest level risk to national security, alongside terrorism threats. You can help to manage your own cyber-risk by:

• Reading the government’s Cyber Essentials – a basic cyber security standard that helps organisations protect themselves against common cyber attacks.
• Reporting any financially motivated cyber crime through Action Fraud, a UK National Computer Emergency Response Team.